Go Read This | Angry Robot 12 Month Subscription – angryrobotstore.com

The first thing to say about this is that it’s incredibly cheap. £69 for lots of books is good, by any measures. The second is that it’s incredibly smart. The third that I’d expect this to be the first of many such plans offered by small, medium AND large publishers.

The thing about subscription plans though, and this is more a note to watch for future activity, is that they are of greatest benefit the readers when they cover a very wide number of titles. I’d expect the subscription selection to increase, even if at the same time the number of downloads permitted is reduced. That growth could come either by acquisition, publication or partnership with other science-fiction and fantasy genre publishers. What’s more, as the list grows, it would be very sensible to sub-divide the list along more niche lines (and maybe even charge more):

A 12 Month Subscription to Angry Robot Titles – download your first titles, now!

Every new Angry Robot title between now and 12 months from now.

That’s a minimum of 24 eBooks for one, small, up-front price!

We publish a minimum of 24 new eBooks a year, and you can get every one of these over the next 12 months for the price, indicated. We publish 2 books most months, none in December, but usually 3 in April and September.

If we publish more than 24 books between the start and end of your subscription, you will get those free of charge. Omnibus editions and re-releases are not included as part of your subscription.

via Angry Robot 12 Month Subscription – angryrobotstore.com.

Quick Link | News « Quercus Books

Wow, big move this. I’ve a sense that Sci-Fi and Fantasy will be a hotbed of new things for some time to come!

Quercus Publishing is delighted to announce that Jo Fletcher is joining the company in January 2011 to launch a new fiction imprint, Jo Fletcher Books.

The new imprint will enhance Quercus’ award-winning fiction programme and is expected to quickly become a leader in the field of SF, fantasy and horror. Jo Fletcher is Associate Publisher of Gollancz, the fantasy and science fiction imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, where her authors include Sir Terry Pratchett, the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Charlaine Harris, Stephen Donaldson, Robert Rankin, Ursula K. Le Guin, Joe Hill, and Polish superstar Andrzej Sapkowski.

via News « Quercus Books.

Go Read This | E-book sales begin to cannibalise print | theBookseller.com

This was, in some senses, bound to happen. If it proves to be true it is the start of the erosion of the print business model, the one that sees publishers forced to cut print runs, reduce their benefits of scale in print and perhaps encourage them to begin converting print readers to digital ones.

The growth in e-book sales in genres such as romance and science-fiction is leading to a cannibalisation in sales of printed books, according to Nielsen BookScan data.

Sales of printed romance books have fallen for the first time since records began at a time when e-book sales have more than doubled.

The data, released as part of a seminar held yesterday with Enders Analysis, ‘Digital Seminar: e-books and their impact on the market’, showed genres such as science fiction and romance are “overperforming” thanks to the tastes of early adopters of e-books. For example, the e-book market share of the science fiction and fantasy sector globally for the 10 weeks since June was 10%, more than treble the genre’s market share of print book sales. The share taken by romance and saga books was 14%, seven times its print market share.

via E-book sales begin to cannibalise print | theBookseller.com.

Go Read This | Speculative Horizons: Fantasy trappings – is less more?

If you are into sci-fi & fantasy, this is a great discussion

I can’t deny that many of my favourite fantasy series have moderate to minor fantastical elements: Martin’s own A Song of Ice and Fire, David Gemmell’s Drenai novels, John Marco’s Tyrants and Kings trilogy, J. V. Jones’s Sword of Shadows, and most recently Daniel Abraham’s The Long Price quartet.

The reason I like these various series so much is because the focus is almost entirely on the characters; the fantastical elements add texture and depth, but aren’t overbearing. These are fantasies that retain a very strong human element.

via Speculative Horizons: Fantasy trappings – is less more?.